Claire Chazal, Fenouil & Flanelle
ph. Jonathan Llense
Claire Chazal has all the makings of a catwoman: charisma, curiosity and calm. She has always had cats, in the past Flocon and Filou who lived with her and her son. Today Fenouil and Flanelle: the first one is a rather bold adventurer, the second one looks like Elizabeth Taylor with a river of diamonds around her neck. Two abandoned cats who were saved by her son, and yes, dogs don't make cats.
Philosopher's Cat
“My first cat was called Sophocles, I named him like that, but just to make a point, in real life we called him Titou, he was all black like Flannelle. I love cats, I love their independence and their intense presence, but which is not as demonstrative as that of dogs. A cat's gaze is so special, sometimes it's like a human's. It is very important to surround yourself with animals in your life.”
Transitional cat
"It's true that this love for cats is something that links me and my son. You know Françoise Dolto's transitional object and well, cats have been our transitional beings. We get emotional, we hug each other through our cats, we tell each other we love each other by sending each other pictures of cats... Don't worry, I also tell him that I love him without a cat picture!"
City cats
"It was my son who rescued Fenouil and Flanelle. Fenouil is the king of the neighbourhood, he leaves, he goes on adventures and generally at the end of the day a shopkeeper in the street calls me to tell me that he has found him. Flanelle, known as the Panther, is the opposite, she is younger and more timid, she tends to hide under the sofa. But the two are a good pair, it's nice to have two cats, at least they're never alone."
Cultural tips:
Les écrivains, le silence et les chats, un documentaire de Thierry Thomas( 2019) where we discover the relationship of great writers with their cats, Colette of course, Pascal Quignard or André Malraux who, as he says, writes about his cats.
ph. personal archives
